In John 15:1-17, as long as we focus on His Words (verse 3 and 7) and love one another (verse 12) as the way He loves us. We bear more fruits and whatever we ask the Father, He gives us.

How precious His promises!!! I truly believe that it’s worth learning His Words earnestly and loving one another with actions in the rest of my life, though they’re not easy tasks. Actually since I became a Christian, I knew these cognitively; however,  I did not regard these as great importance to my spiritual life in oftentimes.

Lord, please forgive me. Give me strength to practise and humility to learn from You. Amen  

Once there was a man who dared God to speak.

Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God. And I will follow.

Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, God. And I will fight.

Still the waves like you did on Galilee, God. And I will listen.

And so the man sat by a bush, near a wall, close to the sea and waite for God to speak.

 And God heard the man, so God answered.

He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church.

He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin.

He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of a soul.

And God waited for the man to respond.  And he waited … And he waited … And waited.

But because the man was looking at bushes, not hearts; bricks and not lives, seas and not souls, he decided that God had done nothing.

Finally he looked to God and asked, Have you lost your power?

And God looked at him and said, Have you lost your hearing?

(A Gentle Thunder, Max Lucado)

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     It seems to me that we have strong tendency to hear what we want to hear and sometimes limit His form of expression. Recently, I find that He ‘speaks’ in different forms, from people’s help, Bible verses, and even in the form we don’t want to have, such as from the loss, self or others’ tragic stories, personal struggles, and all unexpected events. I do hope that He speaks in a way that I have enough wisdom to comprehend, embrace, and, most importantly, HEAR.

       What God’s provision looks like?! How wonderful is His grace?! I can demonstrate His tremendous love by … um … He prepared Paula as my dear friend in the States …

I still remember the first time I sat on the driver’s seat of her van last October. She taught me how to drive every week. She often taught me every ‘how-to’ about being a good driver with humor. When I did not follow her instruction, she reminded me something important with great patience and laughter. Before the driving test, she let me drive the van to go everywhere I wanted. Furthermore, in the days of both driving tests, she accompanied us, Joey and I, to go to BMV (Bureau of Motor and Vehicle) and waited for the driving test result with us. In fact, except Joey, she was the first one and only one to know my stupid things during driving. When I passed the test, I did not know how to express my gratitude to her with words …

Besides, her hospitality made us as privileged guests and even family members, for example, she invited us to go to her house for the celebration of Thanksgiving Day and watching the Super Bowl. It seemed that she’s afraid us to have homesickness and loneliness. Actually, I was deeply touched by what she did. Our negative feelings, such as homesick, bored, lonely, and others were greatly relieved by her warm invitation and kindheartedness. One more example is that she and Susie, her friend, invited us to have a special activity at a night of a Christmas holiday- a ride in downtown with a horse-drawn carriage. I was impressed by the chilly weather, lighting along the street, and the Christmas atmosphere, though the ride was not very long.

In the first and second semester, she always encouraged me verbally in front of our classmates and lecturer. I think she does not know that her encouragements or nonverbal inviting facial expression acted like a cup of water for a thirsty. In ‘theoretical foundation of counseling’ class, Mr. Kondo, our lecturer, requested all classmates to split up into small groups for group presentation. My feeling was pretty strange at that moment. I felt embarrassed, shy, inferior, passive … it seemed like there was a voice: ‘no classmate would like to invite me to join his group’ and those thoughts popped up at the same time. However, Paula used her facial expression and sign language to invite me as one of her group members. I praised God very much and deeply thanked for her invitation since it appeared to me that she knew what I needed … Needless to say, I felt much safer with her presence in those classes.

I was really sad to know that she will not be my classmate in the next fall due to some reasons. That’s why I need to write down something here so that I can remember those unforgettable scenes, share the importance of helping people, more importantly, thank God for His provision – providing a chance for me to know her in the States. His promise never fails us.

Paula, please remember: We are friends no matter where you are. I really treasure our friendship J May His peace, joy, and love fill your heart ever.

     I can feel that the world is teaching us it’s absolute OK for us to focus on ‘ME‘, such as my desire, my way, my voice, my deeds, my pleasure, my right … They seem to permeate all levels of society and, understandably, we all are overwhelmed by this belief. It seems to me that ME becomes our own idol. On the other hand, I find myself there is very limited amount of love inside of me, though Jesus has set a good example for us. How can I respond to the following verses?

He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”          Luke 10:27 (The Message)

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.            1 Corinthians 13:1-2 (The Message)

     Lord, please teach me how to  …

… love those who despise me and whom I dislike, including myself;

… accept the Chinese Government who does not confess what she did in June 1989;

… concern those who are being ignored and poor ‘with action’;

… and most importantly, teach me how to devotedly love YOU with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength, not in cognition but with passion. I am still selfish, arrogant, and keep focusing on ME. Please … please forgive me and turn my sight to YOU. Amen.

When every June 4 comes, my feeling is undoubtedly down.

We should express our gratitude to those who showed his braveness, strived for his dream, sacrificed in the Square, fought for democracy, and condemned the corruption in the Government … in June 4, 1989.

Let’s pray for the people of China and the Government. Most importantly, for the spiritual need of 1.3 billion of people. 

God bless our motherland. Amen.

     Recently, I am reading a book called ‘More Jesus, Less Religion.’ A few statements about Jesus that really touch my heart.

He’s a big enough God to do that.

He’s a personal enough God to do that.

He’s a loving enough God to do that.

     Jesus is BIG enough to care about little me. I find no one who can accept me genuinely and unconditionally. Sometimes, I feel I am too impure to be loved by Him. Sometimes, I feel ashamed and tell myself, ’He will not forgive me.’ Sometimes, I think I am just the weakest member in His Kingdom so that He does not care about my needs. However, He is absolutely not the God I imagined. He is great enough to take care of me, provide what I need, and cleanse all my sins. Simply to say, He does care. He never treats me as the person as I think, but offer every believers a unique but divine identity, Son of God. Because of this, I can approach to Him with confidence and may receive the mercy and grace to help us in the time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Right now, with His strength, I am free from the bondage of sins, though temptations are still there.

      Jesus would like to build up an intimate personal relationship with me. I thought He was sitting at the throne of the heaven. Yes, He is, but He also walks closer to me and talks to me gently. He does not care how messy and dirty of my mind is, as He came to the house of Zacchaeus, who was the chief tax-farmer and a well-known sinner. His forgiveness, gentleness, and little but encouraging voices made me strong. Despite my seeming unchangeable sinful nature, He shares all His blessings with me and lets me know that He’s always be with me whoever I am.

     Jesus is Love so that He died for sinners on the Cross and gave those who believe in Him divine identity, Sons of God. I cognitively recognized this fact many years ago; however, the rules set by the Church or Christians beated me up. I was lost in the image of punishments of God and so guilty that I intentionally avoided to see Him … Because of this, the core message of the Bible, “God is Love,” was nearly ignored. Today, I know that He loves us so much that He does not count our sins if we admit our sins (1 John 1:9). He is willing to come close to us, forgive us, free us from the guilt from Satan, and rebuild the relationship with Him due to the sin. How sweet He is! How precious is His love!

     If you are a Christian, please treasure Him and know Him more. His true and unfailing love will change your life totally. I am not saying I have known and learned from Him thorougly; however, this lifelong lesson surely lets us more enjoy our earthly life even in the time of sorrow. 

     If you are NOT a Christian and want to experience His wonderous and sweetest love, I sincerely invite you to close your eyes, pray and say, ‘Dear Jesus, thank you for your love on the Cross. I recognize that you died for us and rose from the death 3 days later. I am a sinner. Please cleanse my sins with Your blood, purify me and come to my heart. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.’ After praying, Holy Spirit enters your life and will guide you to be His follower. Please contact the nearby church and tell any minister or pastor about your new belief. They would like to help you know more about Jesus.

     May His love, peace, and joy come to your heart. Amen.

     There are almost 100,000 Hong Kong residents living in this kind of  ’cage home.’ Behind the prosperity, unimaginable bad living environment have been long existing since 1950′s. Occupants’ welfare, basic needs, human right are nearly completely ignored by the Government. A more detailed description is extracted from CNN as below:

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Chung lives in a 625 square foot (58.06 square meter) flat here with 18 strangers. The place is sectioned into tiny cubicles made of wooden planks and wire mesh. Everything he has acquired over the years — clothes, dishes, figurines, a tired TV set — is squeezed into this tiny cube, a modernized version of what is known here as a cage home.

Occupants have less privacy, but the temperatures don’t get as high as in the wooden-mesh variety. A thermometer in Chung’s home reached 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). Sometimes it gets so hot, Chung said, that he wants to die. Chung used to be a security guard. In the good old days he earned about $500 (HK$3,875) per month. But as the economic crisis set in, his full time job went to part time work until he was laid off this past summer.

As he stared into his bank passbook, Chung lamented that he wouldn’t be able to make the $150 rent (HK$1,160) this month — these cubes aren’t cheap. They are stacked on two levels — $100 (HK$775) for a cube on the upper deck and $150 for the lower bunk. The lower cubes are more expensive because you can just barely stand upright in them.

The 19 occupants share two toilets. A small rubber hose attached to a leaky faucet is what they use to wash themselves. Social workers who monitor the apartments said the electricity is donated, so a few of them have TVs. One person on the upper deck has an aquarium.

Chung, 67, is now waiting for welfare to kick in and is on a long list for public housing. The government says it is doing its best to meet its citizens’ needs, but Chung says he has lost all hope. Economic recovery or not, he feels forgotten.

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     I don’t know how to describe my hurtful feeling … I cannot imagine how much stress they are experiencing … Actually, they are not lazy. Most of them mostly work 10-12 hours a day, but earn a little … It seems that they are doomed to stay there … and be exploited. For me, there is a fire burning inside of me. I feel that there’s a strong passion to walk with the poor and listened their little voices. I really hope that I can spare time in working for tthe poor, though I don’t know my future career/ministry. I love the verse in the Psalm,

‘Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.’    Psalm 40:17

     Lord, let Your righteousness, love and mercy go to the hearts of the poor. Amen.

     For me, Joey is my dearest Angel. She is a great cook either. I am ALWAYS touched by what she does on me. Her patience, forgiveness, caring heart, humor, loving heart, simplicity, discipline, kindheartedness, and simple faithfulness to God, no doubt, attract me A LOT … Sometimes, I am wondering why God prepared her for me. It seems to me that I am not really deserved to have her in my life. What I can do is … love her tenderly, be loyal, be a responsible husband, more importanly, praise Him for His gracious gift to me.

     Joey, thank you for your love … I am enlightened how sweet the spousal love is. Your presence always reminds me how great is His grace and love and how I am blessed by Him. May Jesus bless my lovely Angel all the time.

     Thank you, Lord.

     What is success? Most definitions include references to achieving goals and acquiring wealth, prestige, favor, and power. “Successful” people enjoy the good life  being financially and emotionally secure, being surrounded by admirers, and enjoying the fruits of their labors. They are leaders, opinion makers, and trendsetters. Their example is emulated; their accomplishments are noticed. They know who they are and where they are going, and they stride confidently to meet their goals.

     By these standards, Jeremiah was a miserable failure. For 40 years he served as God’s spokesman to Judah, but when Jeremiah spoke, nobody listened. Consistently and passionately he urged them to act, but nobody moved. And he certainly did not attain material success. He was poor and underwent severe deprivation to deliver his prophecies. He was thron to Egypt against his will. He was rejected by his neighbors, his family, the false priests and prophets. Throughout his life, Jeremiah stood alone, declaring God’s messages of doom, announcing the new covenant, and weeping over the fate of his beloved country. In the eyes of the world, Jeremiah was not a success.

     But in God’s eyes, Jeremiah was one of the most successful people in all of history. Success, as measured by God, involves obedience and faithfulness. Regardless of opposition and personal cost, Jeremiah courageously and faithfully proclaimed the word of God. He was obedient to his calling.

     As you read Jeremiah, feel with him as he agonizes over the message he must deliver, pray with him for those who refuse to respond to the truth, and watch his example of faith and courage. Then commit yourself to being successful in God’s eyes.  

     Lord, pick my pride, manipulative mind, and my pursuing of excellence off of my body please. You know that I have a selfish desire to drive myself to a particular direction and destination. Actually, I am really crushed and frustrated when I fail to get there. What I am striving for is destroying me and what I think is good to me is trying to keep You away. Lord, You have a speical measurement of a man, unlike the worldly one. Please teache me and correct me as you clearly know what thing is good to me. Strengthen me when I am weak, Lord. Let Your name be glorified during this transformation. Amen.

     Most of the time, we can’t explain the reasons behind all traumatic events, like the one whom we love dies unexpectedly, natural disasters, child or violence abuses, … that happened around us. In today’s sermon, pastor has summarized two statements about the faith of Christians:

One day, it will all make sense.

For now, I choose to trust Him.

    When we meet face to face with Jesus, we’ll fully understand those reasons and everything about the tragedies. Of course, it does not mean that we can avoid the period of sorrow or we are immune of ‘confusion or misery.’ What we can do is ask for the faith and comfort from Him directly in the days of sadness.

     At the end of worship, we sang a song called “It is well with my soul.” The below is the description of the writer of this song from wikipedia:

     “It Is Well with My Soul” is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss. This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the S.S. Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone.” Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

It Is Well With My Soul

Click to listen the song here

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

          Lord, please give me this kind of simple faith. I really want to fix my eyes on You; however, I am still vulnerable … When I am in a deep sorrow or I lose all hopes in someday, awaken my spirit with fire and call me to come closer to You, dear Lord. Amen.